Category Archives: uplands

The Answer Lies in the Soil

Posted on December 24, 2015 by

As Arthur Fallowfield, the farmer character in the legendary Radio 4 comedy series’ Beyond our Ken and Round the Horne, would have said, “The arnswer loies in the soil”. I read with interest and increasing disbelief, an article by George … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, carbon storage, George Monbiot, grasslands, grazing, uplands | Tagged , , , | 13 Comments

As the Badger sacrifice commences in Dorset, French farmers bay for Wolves blood

Posted on September 4, 2015 by

As the first badgers are offered up for sacrifice to the farming gods and goddesses in Dorset, news from France: Sheep Farmers have temporarily kidnapped a National Park chief exec to protest at the increasing number of Wolves taking their … Continue reading →

Posted in badgers, grazing, uplands, wolves | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Planting Trees in the Uplands? There’s an idea….

Posted on January 25, 2014 by

I was so excited at the thought of OPatz going to live in the woods, foraging for mushrooms and curing  badger hams , that I forgot to check what was actually said earlier this week, in relation to flooding and … Continue reading →

Posted in flooding, Forestry, Forestry Commission, Owen Paterson, rewilding, uplands | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Owen Paterson embraces Re-wilding.

Posted on January 24, 2014 by

Thanks to Phil Brewin (@waterlevels) for the photo of flooding on the Somerset Levels. It was only a couple of months ago, that Owen Paterson gave his most significant speech since he became Environment Secretary, to the Tory’s favourite Think … Continue reading →

Posted in badgers, flooding, Forestry, George Monbiot, Owen Paterson, rewilding, uplands | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

What are we waiting for?

Posted on November 14, 2013 by

Reading George Monbiot’s book on re-wilding has made me think a great deal about what would need to change in Britain in order for us to restore nature to something like a sustainable level, and to give it the resilience it will … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, biodiversity, conservation, environmental policy, farming, Floodplains, George Monbiot, grazing, management, public land, rewilding, semi-natural, uplands, wolves | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Biodiversity Offsetting – some further thoughts

Posted on October 26, 2013 by

Today’s blog appears on the Woodland Trust Blog site. http://wtcampaigns.wordpress.com/2013/10/26/biodiversity-offsetting-some-related-issues/.

Posted in agriculture, biodiversity, biodiversity offsetting, Charities campaigning, ecosystem services, environmental policy, forest elephant, George Monbiot, housing, management, meadows, neoliberalism, Owen Paterson, rewilding, scrub, spiritual value, straight tusked elephant, uplands | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Babies and Bathwater

Posted on October 24, 2013 by

Non-intervention management ((C) Miles King) I boldly suggested the other day that conservation iconoclast  Mark Fisher now agreed with me that stopping human intervention on high value nature sites (such as SSSIs) was not the best way of achieving his … Continue reading →

Posted in anti conservation rhetoric, anti-environmental rhetoric, biodiversity, environmental policy, forest elephant, George Monbiot, Mark Fisher, rewilding, Saum, scrub, self-willed land, SSSis, straight tusked elephant, uplands | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Saum, Clarkson, re-wilding and whither British Conservation?

Posted on October 19, 2013 by

the challenge of maintaining Saum I just read an excellent review of Feral on the blog of Green Alliance Director Matthew Spencer. It arrived, in timely fashion on the same day as George published his challenge to British Conservation in … Continue reading →

Posted in biodiversity, carbon storage, climate change, Downland, forest elephant, George Monbiot, management, Mesolithic, rewilding, Saum, scrub, straight tusked elephant, uplands | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Return to “Any Room for Scrub?”

Posted on September 4, 2013 by

While I may be painted by some as a reactionary fighting against the forces of progress (in the form of the re-wilding movement), I have been thinking about this stuff for quite a long time. Reading George Monbiot’s rant about … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, biodiversity, Common Agricultural Policy, ecosystem services, farming, George Monbiot, grazing, management, rewilding, scrub, self-willed land, uplands | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments